Jimcs50
05-04-2005, 08:27 AM
Nuggets not ready to call it a season despite 3-1 deficit against Spurs
By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News
May 4, 2005
SAN ANTONIO - Baseball was George Karl's first love while growing up. So what does he talk about when times get tough?
Baseball, of course.
When the San Antonio Spurs clobbered the Denver Nuggets by 28 points last week, Karl pointed to the 1960 World Series. The Nuggets coach noted how the Pittsburgh Pirates won in seven games despite losing three lopsided games against the New York Yankees.
Now, Karl's Nuggets are down 3-1 in the best-of-seven first-round series against the Spurs. It was time Tuesday for him to dust off some more stories from the diamond.
"I'm from the New England area," said Nuggets center Marcus Camby, a native of Hartford, Conn. "I saw where the Red Sox came back (from a 3-0 deficit in last year's American League Championship Series) against the Yankees and going on to win the championship. :smokin So why not us? . . . I got that one from coach."
Karl is doing whatever he can to motivate the Nuggets heading into Game 5 tonight at the SBC Center. The Nuggets have the unenviable task of trying to win three consecutive games, two at San Antonio.
The Nuggets' advertising motto during the playoffs is "Believe." And Karl apparently has gotten the players to do that.
"It's not impossible," said point guard Earl Boykins, who broke out of a shooting slump to score a team-most 32 points in Monday's 126-115 overtime loss in Game 4. "But we are facing a great challenge now. . . . We're going to have to play defense (tonight). We are going to have to get stops."
To stay alive, the Nuggets need to stop Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who scored a game-most 39 points Monday. Karl said the Nuggets might throw more double teams at him.
Karl said before Game 4 that Duncan still was lacking lift because of a sprained right ankle that forced him to miss 12 games late in the regular season. It seems Karl still is not impressed with his movement.
"He was good," Karl said. "But I didn't think that he had that agility. I think that he made power moves inside."
But the play Karl was thinking about the most was one that happened outside. Karl still was smarting Tuesday about a shot by Boykins he believed should have been called a three-pointer.
With 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in regulation, Boykins made a long shot that gave the Nuggets a 101-99 lead.
While Boykins said he did not know Karl said the shot should have been ruled a three-pointer, he said replays verify it.
"It's definitely a three," said Karl, who said baseline official Bennie Adams was too far from the play to make an accurate call. "I was looking right at it.
"I'm sure San Antonio has as many complaints as I have (about the officiating). But they didn't get a point taken away from them."
Karl has barked about the officiating the past two games. After Game 3, he did not believe enough fouls were called.
There was no shortage of whistles Monday; the Nuggets were called for 37 fouls and the Spurs for 36.
"When you talk about that stuff in the paper, the referees read the newspapers too," Camby said.
Karl also was displeased with an offensive foul in the first minute of overtime on Nuggets point guard Andre Miller. He said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili flopped.
"I may get my team to grow long hair (like Ginobili) so it looks like you get hit," Karl said. "I think referees are doing their best, but they're imperfect. Their imperfection creates pain and hell for a lot of players and coaches."
Meanwhile, the Nuggets must play close to perfect ball to stay in the series. After being upset at home in Game 1, the Spurs have found their rhythm.
"We've dug down pretty deep," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "A lot of guys have participated, we've used a lot of different combinations and they've just played through whatever's been thrown at them, whether it's a call on the court or a decision that has been made or a substitution that has been made."
Neither team practiced Tuesday. Denver's players showed up at the Pepsi Center before flying to San Antonio.
"I don't think I've ever walked out of a building at 1:15 in my life unless I drank a case of beer after the game," Karl said of leaving the Pepsi Center early Tuesday morning. "Then I woke up (Tuesday) morning and the last thing I wanted was to coach basketball on the floor."
Karl calls this the "most fatigued playoff series I think I've been in," but he believes the Nuggets can "go down to San Antonio and rock the world."
Camby agrees.
"It's a tough battle for us, but it can be done," he said. "We're wounded right now. I know a lot of guys have a lot of pride in here. They don't want to go home for the summer, so hopefully we can pull this one out."
Camby is from New England, which he figures is a good start.
• Notes: Since making 11 of 16 shots in the first half of Game 1, Miller is 11-for-38. He finished with 31 points in the opener but has scored 34 in the past three games . . . Game 4 lasted about as long as a typical Rockies game at Coors Field, clocking in at 3 hours, 15 minutes - the longest postseason game in Nuggets history . . . The Spurs' 126 points in Game 4 were the most they had scored in a playoff game since putting up 130 against the Golden State Warriors in 1991 . . . Camby is averaging 12.5 points and 13.8 rebounds in his past six playoff games dating to last year . . . The series seems to get more physical with each game. There were 44 fouls in Game 1, 47 in Game 2, 48 in Game 3 and 73 in Game 4 .
• Nuggets playoff statistics
Min. Reb. Ast. Pts.
No. Player GP avg. avg. avg. avg.
15 Anthony 4 35.5 5.8 2.0 17.8
24 Miller 4 37.0 4.8 5.0 16.3
11 Boykins 4 27.8 1.0 3.5 14.3
6 Martin 4 32.3 5.5 1.3 12.0
23 Camby 4 37.5 11.5 1.8 11.3
3 Johnson 4 19.5 2.0 0.8 7.3
31 Nene 4 19.8 5.0 0.5 5.5
10 Person 3 12.7 0.3 0.3 4.0
7 Buckner 4 21.0 3.5 1.0 2.5
9 Russell 2 3.5 0.0 0.0 1.5
21 Najera 2 6.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
56 Elson 1 6.0 3.0 0.0 0.0
Team totals 4 246.3 40.5 16.3 90.5
Opponent totals 4 246.3 44.5 19.0 100.8
• Spurs playoff statistics
Min. Reb. Ast. Pts.
No. Player GP avg. avg. avg. avg.
20 Ginobili 4 30.8 5.3 5.4 24.0
21 Duncan 4 32.5 11.3 3.0 23.0
9 Parker 4 35.8 2.8 5.5 17.5
5 Horry 4 25.5 4.5 0.8 8.3
17 Barry 4 26.5 2.3 3.3 7.3
2 Mohammed 4 25.8 8.0 0.5 7.0
14 Udrih 4 14.0 1.0 0.8 6.5
3 Robinson 3 10.0 1.7 0.0 4.7
23 Brown 1 6.0 0.0 0.0 3.0
12 Bowen 4 33.3 4.8 1.3 2.5
8 Nesterovic 3 14.0 4.0 0.0 0.7
34 Massenburg 2 5.5 1.0 0.0 0.0
Team totals 3 246.3 44.5 19.0 100.8
Opponent totals 3 246.3 40.5 16.3 90.5
By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News
May 4, 2005
SAN ANTONIO - Baseball was George Karl's first love while growing up. So what does he talk about when times get tough?
Baseball, of course.
When the San Antonio Spurs clobbered the Denver Nuggets by 28 points last week, Karl pointed to the 1960 World Series. The Nuggets coach noted how the Pittsburgh Pirates won in seven games despite losing three lopsided games against the New York Yankees.
Now, Karl's Nuggets are down 3-1 in the best-of-seven first-round series against the Spurs. It was time Tuesday for him to dust off some more stories from the diamond.
"I'm from the New England area," said Nuggets center Marcus Camby, a native of Hartford, Conn. "I saw where the Red Sox came back (from a 3-0 deficit in last year's American League Championship Series) against the Yankees and going on to win the championship. :smokin So why not us? . . . I got that one from coach."
Karl is doing whatever he can to motivate the Nuggets heading into Game 5 tonight at the SBC Center. The Nuggets have the unenviable task of trying to win three consecutive games, two at San Antonio.
The Nuggets' advertising motto during the playoffs is "Believe." And Karl apparently has gotten the players to do that.
"It's not impossible," said point guard Earl Boykins, who broke out of a shooting slump to score a team-most 32 points in Monday's 126-115 overtime loss in Game 4. "But we are facing a great challenge now. . . . We're going to have to play defense (tonight). We are going to have to get stops."
To stay alive, the Nuggets need to stop Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who scored a game-most 39 points Monday. Karl said the Nuggets might throw more double teams at him.
Karl said before Game 4 that Duncan still was lacking lift because of a sprained right ankle that forced him to miss 12 games late in the regular season. It seems Karl still is not impressed with his movement.
"He was good," Karl said. "But I didn't think that he had that agility. I think that he made power moves inside."
But the play Karl was thinking about the most was one that happened outside. Karl still was smarting Tuesday about a shot by Boykins he believed should have been called a three-pointer.
With 2 minutes, 40 seconds remaining in regulation, Boykins made a long shot that gave the Nuggets a 101-99 lead.
While Boykins said he did not know Karl said the shot should have been ruled a three-pointer, he said replays verify it.
"It's definitely a three," said Karl, who said baseline official Bennie Adams was too far from the play to make an accurate call. "I was looking right at it.
"I'm sure San Antonio has as many complaints as I have (about the officiating). But they didn't get a point taken away from them."
Karl has barked about the officiating the past two games. After Game 3, he did not believe enough fouls were called.
There was no shortage of whistles Monday; the Nuggets were called for 37 fouls and the Spurs for 36.
"When you talk about that stuff in the paper, the referees read the newspapers too," Camby said.
Karl also was displeased with an offensive foul in the first minute of overtime on Nuggets point guard Andre Miller. He said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili flopped.
"I may get my team to grow long hair (like Ginobili) so it looks like you get hit," Karl said. "I think referees are doing their best, but they're imperfect. Their imperfection creates pain and hell for a lot of players and coaches."
Meanwhile, the Nuggets must play close to perfect ball to stay in the series. After being upset at home in Game 1, the Spurs have found their rhythm.
"We've dug down pretty deep," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "A lot of guys have participated, we've used a lot of different combinations and they've just played through whatever's been thrown at them, whether it's a call on the court or a decision that has been made or a substitution that has been made."
Neither team practiced Tuesday. Denver's players showed up at the Pepsi Center before flying to San Antonio.
"I don't think I've ever walked out of a building at 1:15 in my life unless I drank a case of beer after the game," Karl said of leaving the Pepsi Center early Tuesday morning. "Then I woke up (Tuesday) morning and the last thing I wanted was to coach basketball on the floor."
Karl calls this the "most fatigued playoff series I think I've been in," but he believes the Nuggets can "go down to San Antonio and rock the world."
Camby agrees.
"It's a tough battle for us, but it can be done," he said. "We're wounded right now. I know a lot of guys have a lot of pride in here. They don't want to go home for the summer, so hopefully we can pull this one out."
Camby is from New England, which he figures is a good start.
• Notes: Since making 11 of 16 shots in the first half of Game 1, Miller is 11-for-38. He finished with 31 points in the opener but has scored 34 in the past three games . . . Game 4 lasted about as long as a typical Rockies game at Coors Field, clocking in at 3 hours, 15 minutes - the longest postseason game in Nuggets history . . . The Spurs' 126 points in Game 4 were the most they had scored in a playoff game since putting up 130 against the Golden State Warriors in 1991 . . . Camby is averaging 12.5 points and 13.8 rebounds in his past six playoff games dating to last year . . . The series seems to get more physical with each game. There were 44 fouls in Game 1, 47 in Game 2, 48 in Game 3 and 73 in Game 4 .
• Nuggets playoff statistics
Min. Reb. Ast. Pts.
No. Player GP avg. avg. avg. avg.
15 Anthony 4 35.5 5.8 2.0 17.8
24 Miller 4 37.0 4.8 5.0 16.3
11 Boykins 4 27.8 1.0 3.5 14.3
6 Martin 4 32.3 5.5 1.3 12.0
23 Camby 4 37.5 11.5 1.8 11.3
3 Johnson 4 19.5 2.0 0.8 7.3
31 Nene 4 19.8 5.0 0.5 5.5
10 Person 3 12.7 0.3 0.3 4.0
7 Buckner 4 21.0 3.5 1.0 2.5
9 Russell 2 3.5 0.0 0.0 1.5
21 Najera 2 6.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
56 Elson 1 6.0 3.0 0.0 0.0
Team totals 4 246.3 40.5 16.3 90.5
Opponent totals 4 246.3 44.5 19.0 100.8
• Spurs playoff statistics
Min. Reb. Ast. Pts.
No. Player GP avg. avg. avg. avg.
20 Ginobili 4 30.8 5.3 5.4 24.0
21 Duncan 4 32.5 11.3 3.0 23.0
9 Parker 4 35.8 2.8 5.5 17.5
5 Horry 4 25.5 4.5 0.8 8.3
17 Barry 4 26.5 2.3 3.3 7.3
2 Mohammed 4 25.8 8.0 0.5 7.0
14 Udrih 4 14.0 1.0 0.8 6.5
3 Robinson 3 10.0 1.7 0.0 4.7
23 Brown 1 6.0 0.0 0.0 3.0
12 Bowen 4 33.3 4.8 1.3 2.5
8 Nesterovic 3 14.0 4.0 0.0 0.7
34 Massenburg 2 5.5 1.0 0.0 0.0
Team totals 3 246.3 44.5 19.0 100.8
Opponent totals 3 246.3 40.5 16.3 90.5